About the artist …
Hey, I’m the artist! My name is Blake Paff. I live in the small town of Landrum, SC with my wife, Ashlea and 2 kids, Abigail and Myles. We love to go hiking, fishing, camping, exploring outside, riding trails and all sorts of fun stuff.
Where Dark Corner came from …
The name “Dark Corner” comes from the region of Upstate South Carolina where I am located. It is at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. Back in the old days it was known for moonshine and banjo music. Probably wasn’t a place you wanted to wind up broke down in the middle of the night. It was known as the “Dark Corner” of South Carolina. Nowadays, it’s a wonderful place to live, full of beautiful sunsets over the mountains and blooming peach blossoms in the spring. You can still find some moonshine and banjo music too though. I was born and raised in this area and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, which is why I named my business after it.
How we got here …
I started using an airbrush in August of 2020. I quickly knew it was something I wanted to improve upon. I started buying crankbait blanks and practicing. I was horrible, but I didn’t give up. I did research, watched YouTube, joined Facebook groups and asked questions. Anything I could do to get better. Eventually, I did. It didn’t take long before I started selling them to friends and local fishermen.
About a year later I bought my first fish replica. It’s just a big crankbait, right? Well, that’s what it ended up looking like. A big crankbait. I had to learn a whole new way of painting. I started over. I watched more YouTube, joined different Facebook groups, asked more questions. I even joined the SC Association of Taxidermy. Here I am now, creating lifelike, recreations of God’s work and enjoying every minute of it.
